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Chichester, England: Cryolab Ltd, a specialist supplier of cryogenic equipment and consumables to research, clinical and biobanking laboratories worldwide, has published a new guide for research animal facilities that archive genetically altered mouse lines as frozen sperm and embryos.

Archiving lines in liquid nitrogen lets facilities stop breeding colonies kept only to preserve a line, which supports the reduction principle of the 3Rs. It also protects lines against disease outbreaks and breeding failure, and lets them be shared with other institutions as frozen material rather than live animals. The science of mouse sperm and embryo freezing is well established. Whether a line can actually be recovered years later depends mostly on the consumables and practices around it.

The guide covers:

Straw selection. Mouse sperm is most commonly frozen in 0.25 ml French type straws, each holding a small aliquot of around 10 µl. Facilities should standardise on one straw format across the whole archive.

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Straw numbers and duplication. One large US repository asks for at least 25 straws per line. Cryolab recommends splitting every line between at least two storage vessels, ideally in separate rooms or buildings.

Giving every line a fixed address. Visotubes, goblets, canes and storage cassettes should be planned so any line can be found and removed without disturbing the others.

Identification. Cryogenic marker ink, low shrink vinyl labels, colour coded ID rods and tabs, and a digital inventory backed up off site.

Shipping lines between institutions. Charged dry shippers, temperature data loggers, and packing each line in its own visotube.

PPE and room safety. Cryogenic gloves, full face shields and oxygen depletion checks for small archive rooms.

"A frozen line is only as good as the day someone needs it back," said a Cryolab spokesperson. "By then the person who froze it has often moved on, so the straws, the labelling and the tank layout have to do all the work."

Cryolab has supplied the IVF, biobanking and research sectors since 2000. Founder Paul Hague has more than 40 years' experience in cryogenic equipment, and the company holds ISO 9001:2015 certification. Standard UK stock is delivered next day, and Cryolab ships to research facilities worldwide.

Read the full guide: https://cryolab.co.uk/mouse-line-cryopreservation-consumables/